Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Day 5

Tonight at 9:57pm Taylor will officially be 2 weeks old.

Woke up at 6am this morning for more blood draws and vitals. The phlobotomist is starting to feel really bad for me everytime she comes to take my blood. She always apologizes every time, but loves to coo all over Taylor every time.

I got a phone call from the Nutrition Dpt at 7:30 this morning and they were just about to ask me what I wanted for breakfast, and then in mid-sentence she said "Oh, wait, are you on a liquid diet? Oh, nevermind. Uh, Sorry." and then hung up.

I wanted to cry. lol. I thought for a second that maybe I was going to get to eat some real food.

8:00am my breakfast tray arrived. Will said "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's red jello, chicken broth, and apple juice. Yum yum." I couldn't even make it through half of it. I drank the broth, skipped the jello. Drank the apple juice because it had the most calories. Threw the rest out.

Yesterday I had what I call a "food headache". You know, when you haven't eaten but then all you eat is sugar. I had to take 6 doses of painkillers to get rid of it, and was just really grouchy knowing that the only reason I had the headache in the first place was because I wasn't eating anything and then all they feed me is jello, juice, and whatnot. Just sugar. I must have downed at least 5 or 6 cups of chicken broth yesterday just to avoid the gross sugary foods. I would drink it and about 10 minutes later my stomach would be growling again. And then my meal tray would show up for my next meal and it would be...yep you guessed it - red jello, broth, and juice.

8:30am this morning my new nurse came in and told me that my lypaise levels went from 2020 to 1020 today. So that is half! That is SUPER good news. Of course, the only thing on my mind was "Do I get to eat something solid today???"

9:00am the internal medicine doctor came to see me and ask how I was doing. Told me again that my labs were looking better and they would be able to advance me to a "soft food" diet. Meaning, I will now get to have pudding, thick pureed soup, etc. I know it sounds silly, but this is very exciting for me.

10:00 the Gastro-Intestinal specialist stopped by (along with a 3rd year med student) to ask how I was doing. He is still under the impression that the reason my stomach is feeling better is because I must have passed a stone the night I came into the E.R. (last Thurs night). He said my labs looked better, and he is advancing me to a lowfat diet. Yeah, so I was confused. Is it soft foods or lowfat? Either way I'm pretty darn stoked.

10:30 the phlobotomist stopped by to take more blood. Apologized profusely, played with Taylor a bit, and then left. I told her that I now officially have no more blood to draw and that all of my veins have disappeared so it's useless. She laughed. No really....I was semi-serious.

11:00am my OB stopped by to see how I was doing. She was very excited to see that my labs had improved and said they would be advancing me to the B.R.A.T. diet. Now the brat diet? I'm sure lunch today will be a real surprise whatever it is. She asked how I was holding up with the new blood pressure medication (they switched it to one that doesn't effect heartrate levels since mine is still low sometimes). She told me that they're still going to keep me on it for a while since my BP is still high when I first wake up in the morning.

It's now 11:35 and I'm counting down the minutes to noon for when my food tray arrives. It will be my first good meal in days. I'm pretty excited. Very actually. Will it be the BRAT? Will it be lowfat? Will it be pudding? HOnestly either way I'm excited as long as it's not red jello and chicken broth.

There is talk that if I can handle today's food and my levels are good after the meals, then I MIGHT get to go home tomorow.

We had lots of visitors last night which was fun. Taylor has already grown some while we've been here - as he is now spending a little bit more time awake than asleep. I'm still breastfeeding him just fine amazingly enough. The human body is rather remarkable I think because it just seems that for as little as I've eaten I should be able to BF, but I am. Though I am sure it's probably skim milk.

I have advanced from sleeping on the labor/hospital bed (super uncomfortable) to the husband couch with Will. Trust me it's much comfier. I couldn't do this a week ago because of both stomach pains and also Csection/abdominal weakness. So I am pretty excited about that. It's the first time I've been able to snuggle with Will in about...3 or 4 weeks.

Preston is doing well at G&G's house, until last night we got a phonecall and Grandma said that for the first time ever Preston came up to her and said "Home? Hold baby brother? Home?" My heart broke when she told me that. Preston has always been all about staying at Grandma's house, so to hear him say he actually wanted to come home made me feel really bad. Luckily this morning my mom emailed me to tell me that he was back to normal and looking out the window wanting to go outside to "pet the birds" in the yard.

I am sad that we had to cancel all of the yummy meals that we were going to get from the Relief Society in our ward for having a baby. We weren't even home long enough to enjoy those meals yet. And now instead of getting to enjoy yummy post pardum meals, we'll get to enjoy extremely lowfat meals. LOL.

Well, something exciting is happening. My lunch tray is here. And somebody messed up and didn't get word to the dietary department that I have been advanced. It's red jello, broth, and juice. I'm about to cry. Excuse me while I go have a meltdown.

10 comments:

I really can't imagine. I am so sorry Jenni. I've been reading your updates everyday. Thanks so much for keeping us updates. Especially for those of us who are phone-aphobes (that would be me).It's great to be able to know what's going on in each other's lives.Especially during major things like this. You're a tough lady. Having babies sure isn't for wimps huh?! We think the world of you Jenni.You're in our prayers and thoughts.

Send the tray back!!! Demand to have your real food! The BRAT diet is bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. That's the diet you give someone when they have bad diarrhea. Hey, anything is better than jello and broth.

I'm so stoked you're doing so well. Imagine if you actually get to go home tomorrow?!? You sound so ready to just leave.

UGH! Not more of the same food.. I agree with Lori-Ann. Send it back and demand real food.. or the BRAT.. whatever that means. :)

It broke my heart to hear that Preston missed home and his baby brother. I have a fear of leaving Kailey this weekend. I know it will be for the best, but I imagine she will have about the same things to say to mommy.

I'm so glad to hear that your condition is improving. I hope you can leave soon.

I'm so glad to hear you're doing better, and so sad that the cafeteria didn't get the message.

Hey, I just remembered something important . . . my SIL had trouble with her gallbladder, and began avoiding fatty foods and drinking plenty of lemon water. Her pain went away, and she hasn't had any trouble since. (Her trouble was post-partum, too.) Not too long afterward, her sister began having the same trouble . . . did the lemon water but didn't stay away from fat at all, and ended up with her gallbladder out.

So, if you can convince the hospital that you need some lemon wedges to squeeze into your water (because you don't like the taste of the water, and you have to stay hydrated, after all, right?), that should really help speed your healing up.

And please please please please DON'T go cold-turkey on the BP meds. Talk to your doctor about specifically how they work . . . and if the one you're on is the kind that blocks the "raise the BP" message from your brain, going off cold turkey can send your BP up into the stratosphere again. So, wean off slowly, and be careful.

I hope you received a more filling lunch, and I hope your body was able to handle it well. All the needle pricks sound awful. Can they not give you an IV to do the blood draws from so they don't have to stick you repeatedly? You poor thing!

Jen, Preston is having a fit that grandpa and I are trying to watch a movie (that isn't one of his!) He's a little angel when he has my 100% attention. He started jumping on the couch and yelling when we were watching the movie! LOL

The funniest thing was this morning, when he leaned over the bannister and yelled "Hello?.....you downstairs?" at grandpa. He wasn't about to go downstairs if someone wasn't down there. And then later when grandpa was taking nap, Preston goes up to him and shouts "Wake up!"

He took a three and half hour nap on my lap today....it's a good thing that I was sleepy too. He's been very good at taking naps and going to bed at night.....as long as I am there with him.

It was raining today and he wanted to go outside and look for the rabbit.....but I convinced him that he couldn't go outside when it was raining so hard. He's really starting to put more words together....he's quite a jabberbox!

I think when he finally goes home, that grandpa and I are going to have "Preston withdrawals!"

A Little About Us...

Hi there. We're the Thomas Family.

There's Will - who loves number crunching, real estate, & investing. He's also an ultra-marathoner and adventure racer.

Then there's Jenni - she is a stay-at-home-mom, concert pianist, recording artist, and composer. She loves fashion, decorating, and blogging. She has kept journals since the age of 11, so blogging is like ultra-journalling :).

And of course there's our little redheads, Preston, (born 6/2008), Taylorwho was born 8/2010, and our newest addition Riley, born 3/14.

We live near Seattle. We drive Kias We work hard and play hard. We are extremists in our hobbies. We're Mormons. We eat meat. And we love the outdoors.

What's Will been up to?

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"We write to taste life twice, once in the moment and in retrospection."

- Anais Nin

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Why Will Runs

"We write because we're human. And we have stories to tell. Stories of love, of romance, of heroic struggles. We write because deep within us we must tell our stories, lest they (and the memory of "us") be lost to the winds of time. We write because we want to leave a legacy, a memory, in order that others may know that we had passed this way, and that we had lived. Thus we write as a witness to our lives -- for ourselves and for posterity." - Kenneth Tang